The First Egg...

The shed has one face with panels painted to match the house, and the interior has been reworked and revised by Andrew Lundmark to host chickens without giving them the entire shed. The chickens moved from the Lundmark's to our house during the week, and Heather and Heidi are now feeding and watering the bird brains. Oh, and they are settled well enough that the first egg has been gathered from the chickens, and the first fight has occurred between the territorial little Dachshund and the territorial rooster. The Dachshund seems to have come off the better of it, and is now living a more restricted lifestyle in the house, with less free wandering of the outdoors.

Gondola - Mark and Coleen

Gondola - Mark and Coleen
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

The kids splurged on their parents and bought us air fare and lodging for 3 nights of "Virtual Venice". We flew from Fort Collins / Loveland airport (about 15 minutes from home) to Las Vegas, and spent 3 nights at the Venetian Hotel.

The food was excellent, it was a great time walking through the various Las Vegas displays, and the 4 kids still at home seemed to do just fine without us watching their every move...

More pictures are posted on my flickr account, with even more pictures to come. Indoors, outdoors, walking, and talking were all great.

The Shed Is In Place

Shed Door
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Andrew Lundmark has successfully persuaded the girls that they want chickens. That meant we needed a shed. Andrew then found a fully constructed, nicely painted shed at a local seller in Loveland.

The seller was even willing to haul it to the house, and put it in place. The paint job is a little painful (Bronco Orange and Blue), but it is so well constructed that we can forgive the paint.

Or, more likely, we'll have the kids paint it so it looks more like the house.

Good luck chickens, hope you enjoy your new home...

Eliza and Sarah

Eliza and Sarah
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Before the corn maze trip, Eliza and Sarah were playing on their couch, having fun and snuggling.

Heather & Heidi at the Anderson Farms Corn Maze

Heather & Heidi at the Anderson Farms Corn Maze
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Ben and Sarah gave Heather and Heidi a birthday present trip to the corn maze at Anderson Farms outside Longmont, CO. We spent 3+ hours wandering through the maze on Saturday with Sarah, Ben, Eliza, Coleen, Mark, Jaron, Heather, and Heidi.

Eric and Alan were on a scout outing, attending the Longs Peak Council's annual "turkey shoot" at Ben Delatour Scout Ranch. No turkeys are harmed in the annual "turkey shoot", in case there is any question...

Heather and Heidi initially took off through the maze at a dead run, leaving us all behind. The rest of us took a leisurely stroll through the western section of the maze.

About 45 minutes into the walk, Heather and Heidi called to find us. We met at the central entrance and started a more structured hike through the maze. The maze contains 18 stations scattered throughout the corn, each with a paper punch that can be used to mark the map card. We completed 12 of the 18 locations before we were too tired to continue.

Anderson Farms is a working farm, so they had all sorts of interesting and useful things at the farm (like ducks, and goats). It is converted to an entertainment center for a 2 month period at the end of each crop season. I suspect they make more from the entertainment center period ($10 per person, hundreds of people visited the day we were there) than from the farming. No problem, either way, since we easily got our $10 per person worth in family fun.

They also have a web site which describes some of their activities.

Heather & Heidi Swim Meet

Heather & Heidi Swim Meet
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Heather and Heidi participated in the final swim meet of their 7th grade year. They've enjoyed swimming this year, their second year of competitive swimming.

The meet was the day prior to their 13th birthday, and it was a long day. They arrived at the pool at 7:00 AM and did not leave until after 2:00 PM. All those hours at the pool for two events each.

Good luck girls!

Register and Vote!

This is the season to learn about the candidates and the issues, choose the ones you think are best suited to run our representative government, and cast your vote. Don't miss the chance to be part of the democratic process! I've been accepted as an election judge in our county, so I will spend election day at a local polling place, verifying information and distributing ballots. I still remember all those years ago when my mother would act as an election judge. Thanks Mom!

Isn't She Lovely...

Sommerfeldt 031
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Rachel and Bruce look just like themselves in this picture. They are alive, vibrant, and full of fun.

This picture was taken as they exited the doors at the Mount Timpanogas temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe the picture was taken by Cynthia Gale. Refer to http://www.cbgphotography.com/ for Cynthia's company.

Firefox 3 Download Day

Firefox 3 is expected to release tomorrow, June 17, 2008. The Firefox development team would like to set a world record for most downloads in a day. I've been using Firefox 3 beta and release candidate versions for a month or more and have been pleased with it. It feels faster. It runs well. I was disappointed that the Google toolbar does not support Firefox 3 yet. I've used the Google toolbar to centrally manage my browser bookmarks across multiple computers. Yesterday I found "GMarks", an extension that places my centrally managed Google bookmarks in the Firefox menu bar. It works great, and takes less screen real estate than the Google toolbar.

Jaron's High School Graduation

HPIM1765
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Jaron turned 18 last October, and today he graduated from Loveland High School. We're delighted with him and with his progress.

He is preparing to serve a full time mission, with earliest eligibility date in October 2008.

Congratulations Jaron!